Recruiting has been a part of society dating back hundreds and hundreds of years, but the rise of the recruitment agency is one that happened not so long ago.
Industrial Revolution
Before the Industrial Revolution, people were recruited mostly for mining jobs. Local workers were the only ones recruited for these jobs because management positions were held for noble men.
As the Industrial Revolution came to be, companies expanded and segregated their jobs into different departments and specialities. This meant that there was a large need for employees with different skill sets and companies turned to outside help to fill these roles.
World War Two
A large boom in agencies happened as a result of World War Two. Agencies began to advertise to individuals not required to serve their country and asked them to fill in the jobs that the soldiers left behind.
After the war ended, soldiers came home with new skills and wanted to be put to work. Agencies helped to manage this influx of people into the workforce. Eventually, large companies began to hire third parties to recruit their employees.
Fun fact: at this time recruitment agencies could only recruit for full-time positions because of IRS employment taxes.
Technological Advancements
As we entered the 1990’s a turn toward technology and the rise of the internet allowed agencies to begin recruiting specialized careers. The internet took off and in order to keep up with the rising demand for employees with technological skills companies had to turn to agencies to help fill the roles.
Since then, this practice has continued. As companies become larger and more segregated it is beneficial for them to delegate the task of finding top-tier employees to companies suitable to do so.
Now, agencies can recruit temporary, part-time, and full-time employees for all careers and in doing so can help to alleviate the stress of having to find employees off of the corporations.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jeremy-lamri/recruitment_b_4485993.html
http://www.therecruiterslounge.com/2010/07/19/an-interesting-look-at-the-history-of-the-recruitment-industry/